Creative Woodworks & crafts 1999-01, страница 8
Raymond Wilckens (left) on a recent visit to the incredible showroom of loji "Joe" losif (right),
An amazing visit I first became acquainted with loji (or Joe, as he prefers u> be called) Tosif when he requested one of our catalogs and mentioned that, he would like to visit our shop. When Joe visited, wc spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon looking at his photo album and talking about fretwork. This prompted my wife and 1 to dceide to return the visit and see the showroom in his home, which we did in January, 1998. However, when we arrived at Joe's house, we were not prepared for what we were about to see, because Joe has more fretwork on display in one house than we've ever seen before. In all, Joe has 215 projects in his showroom, his shop, and throughout his home. All of Joe's projects are cut from three-ply Iuan plywood using a hand frame saw, and upon close inspection, it's almost unbelievable to see how perfectly every eut was made. Joe prefers to use an Olson No. 2/0 fretsaw blade in his hand frame and a 3/8"-Dia. hand drill mounted in a small drill press to bore the very liny starter holes. Joe can elatnp a blade into the hand saw faster than many can on powered scroll saws, and when he begins his cut, you can sec the care and craftsmanship that goes into his every stroke. Once cut out, his projects are finished with a light coat of gloss spray lacquer. From Old World to new technology Joe explains that he learned the art of fretwork using a hand frame while attending school as a boy in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of thirteen, Joe eut out a replica of the Eiffel Tower noting that, "most of the patterns at lhat time came from Austria and Italy." Although those patterns have long since disappeared, Joe still has many of these very intricate and ornate fretwork projects on display. When Joe, along with his wife and daughter, immigrated to the United States in 1967, the only possessions they could bring with them were their wedding rings and sixty pounds of luggage apiecc. Joe notes, with a smile, "We only knew two English words, !ves' and 'no'. The only problem was that we didn't know when to use them." Joe found work near Kansas City, Kansas and he and his family moved into a modest suburb there. Joe quickly began earning promotions and moved up to a respected position with the company. During this time, Joe continued lo work on his fretwork projects. In 1981, Joe decided to retire so that he could devote more of his time to fretwork. He began mail ordering continued on page 10 blades on their electric scroll saws. |
